Having a Relationship with God

Click the above link to download your own copy of the free (but wonderful) Bible study program, E-Sword. It’s constantly being improved; multiple add-ons available for free. Some copyrighted materials can be purchased for use in the program. I’ve been using it for years and I give it a TEN!  Install the program from the website, then open it and click “Download” from the top menu and download add-ons galore!  Most are free!!

*** God wants a special relationship with you! If you don’t know Him, ask Him to reveal Himself to you (You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. —Jeremiah 29:13) and start reading your Bible! A great place to start is the “Gospel of John”, or the book “Romans” in the New Testament. Actually you can start anyplace!   You can always call the church or write to me at questions. I can forward questions to the pastor upon request or need. ***

Question: What Is the Bible All About?

This reading, along with the Bible references and Bibliography, makes a great study on the Bible itself.  ***Notice the difference between Bibliography (the sources at the end of an article used to support written statements) and Bibliology, (refers to the study of the nature of the Bible as revelation. It often includes such topics as revelation, inspiration, inerrancy, canonicity, illumination, and interpretation.)  All comments in GREEN are from the Editor.

Answer:  BIBLIOLOGY:  THE DOCTRINE OF SCRIPTURE  by Rev. Philip C. Andrukaitis, Pastor

An Introduction to Theology through God’s Revelation of Himself 

I believe that God’s disclosure of Himself and His truth to man is a progressive revelation whereby later revelation builds on earlier revelation (Erickson, 222), unfolding in an ever deepening and broadening way (Sproul, 20).  In addition, God’s disclosure of Himself is presented to man in two stages…which should be discriminated to avoid confusion.  There is the revelation which God continuously makes to all men:  by it His power and Divinity are made known.  And there is the revelation which He makes exclusively to His chosen people:  through it His saving grace is made known (Warfield, 73).    These two species or stages of divine revelation are commonly classified as being general and special; the latter stage’s (Scripture) authority being challenged.

I believe that Scripture has the right to command belief and/or action (Erickson, 268).  Milne adds, authority is the right or power to require obedience (Milne, 15).  Yet, submission to Scripture’s authority is a fundamental problem with which every Christian struggles, creating divisions within the church.  The deepest cleavages in Christendom are doctrinal; and the deepest doctrinal cleavages are those which result from disagreement about authority (Packer, 44).  According to Milne, Christians throughout the ages have appealed to different sources of authority such as, the creeds, the historical confessions, the main trend of Christian opinion within his/her particular church, Christian experience, Christian reason, and the Christian’s inner voice (Milne, 16-17).  However, I believe the final court of authority rests upon the Bible.  By it comes our knowledge of The Triune God and the way of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Believing that Jesus Christ is The Incarnate Logos (Jn. 1:1), the Word made flesh, (Jn. 1:14) He did not judge Scripture but obeyed and fulfilled Scripture (Mt. 5:17).  He appealed to no human authority but put His teaching forward as divine in origin (Jn. 7:16; 12:49). He quoted the OT (Mt.4:4; 19:4; Mk. 7:11-13; 14:27; (Jn. 10:34f), and endorsed the authority of the OT with the greatest emphasis and the full weight of His authority (Packer, 54).   By way of application, the authority of Scripture from the lips of Christ, His disciples (Acts 4:25; Rom. 1:2, 17; Gal. 3:8), and Paul’s exhortation (Titus 2:15) are summed up in two challenging words:  listen and obey – that, according to the Bible, is what is required of me and nothing else (Baillie, 134).

General Revelation

I believe God, through general revelation of Himself in nature (Ps. 8; 19:1-6), in history (Hab. 1:1-2:20; Acts 7:1-53), and in man’s conscience (Rom 1:18-19; 2:14-16), beckons man to worship and glorify Him (Ps. 9:1-2, 7-11) because He has disclosed something of His nature and purposes to mankind (Milne, 24).

Through general revelation, God has also stabilized human society by giving a special sanction to the moral law…whereby good and evil are distinguished; however, God renders man guilty (Milne, 23) because sinful man suppresses the general revelation of God in his heart, making himself a liar (Rom. 3:4) thus, bearing God’s wrath and judgment (Rom. 1:18-20).  Consequently, general revelation cannot bring salvation to man because it only demonstrates the existence of The Holy Creator.  Calvin rightly stated that if man is to know God, it remains for God to give witness of himself from heaven (Milne, 24).

Special Revelation

I believe that God, through special revelation, employed direct and personal disclosures (Ex. 3:1-4; Acts 9:1-19), miracles (Ex. 14:21-31; Mk. 16:1-6), holy prophets (1^st Pt. 1:10-11; 2^nd Pt. 1:20-21), the incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:14, 18; Heb. 1:1-2), and Scripture (Lk. 24:27, 44-45; 1^st Cor. 2:9-12) to communicate His divine essence and plan of salvation for sinful man (2^nd Tim. 3: 15-17).

Canonicity 

The Canon, kanōn meaning rule or standard of measurement (Milne, 39), is composed of sixty-six books; thirty-nine OT books and twenty seven NT books.  The early Church Fathers accepted the Canon as being complete because Jesus confirmed the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Lk. 24: 27, 44-45) while the NT writers claimed divine inspiration for themselves (2^nd Pt. 1:20; 1^st Pt. 1:10-11).  Packer observers, the important thing to grasp as one surveys the intricacies of the history of the canon is that what the Church believed itself to be doing was not creating the New Testament, but recognizing it (Packer, 66).  Therefore, based on Deuteronomy 4:2 and Revelation 22:18-19, I further believe that the Canon is closed and that any addition to or subtraction from any part of the Bible is forbidden by God.

Inspiration  

            Scriptures owe their origin to an activity of God the Holy Ghost and are in the highest and truest sense His creation (Warfield, 296).  I believe that the Bible is the product of God’s authoritative self-revelation whereby His divine influence upon fallible, sinful, human writers of Scripture became a transcript of God’s Word to man.  While, all Scripture is the product of God’s out-breathing (2^nd Tim. 3:16), God utilized each writer’s personality in order to secure an inerrant transference of divine revelation, by carrying them along (borne along) in the production of the original manuscripts (1^st Cor. 2:13; 2^nd Pt. 1:19-21).  In other words, the writers of Scripture were chosen and prepared by God for their sacred task whose personalities were not canceled out as they wrote (Sproul, 28).  Therefore, I believe that inspiration does not extend beyond the original manuscripts.

The characteristics of inspiration are closely related to each other and are thus defined in the following way.  The Scripture is verbally inspired, meaning that the Holy Spirit guided the choice of words used in the original manuscripts (Mt. 5:18; 2^nd Tim. 3:16; 2^nd Pt. 1:21).  That the Scripture is plenarily inspired means that the accuracy of verbal inspiration extends to every word in every sentence thus making Scripture completely infallible and authoritative for all issues it addresses.  The Scripture is infallible, meaning that the character of God’s Word is without deception and wholly trustworthy.  Scripture is a safe, sure, and reliable standard in all matters of life.  The Scripture is inerrant, meaning that the original autographs are without error and wholly true (Ps. 119:160).  In other words, the Bible’s truthfulness and all of its affirmations and denials correspond with reality (Sproul, 40).  Since inerrancy belongs only to the autographs and irregularities exist in the transmission (translation) of the Scriptures, the truthfulness of the Scripture is not negated.  Nevertheless, apparent inconsistencies should not be ignored, but a solution to them ought to be sought.

Illumination

Since the Bible is not of this world but from a different dimension, human beings need divine assistance to understand God’s revelation.  Apart from the Holy Spirit’s enablement, the unregenerate sinner, whose mind is darkened and spirit is dead, cannot apprehend spiritual truths (1^st Cor. 2:14).  Therefore, illumination is defined as the ministry of the Holy Spirit whereby He enlightens those who are in a right relationship with Him to comprehend the written Word of God (Enns, 175) and understand experientially the Scripture through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 16:8-15).

Interpretation

Interpretation is the process by which the believer depends upon the Holy Spirit’s divine assistance in order to understand the Scripture while considering the passage in its immediate and wider context.  In other words, the interpreter must take into consideration the author’s purpose and historical-cultural background.  Moreover, Scripture is properly understood when various literary styles are also considered.  Therefore, “When the plain sense makes good sense, there is no other sense.”

One final note:  While there is only one interpretation behind each passage, we must remember that each writer was author of a segment of Scripture, not comprehending the whole (Wenham, 103).  God did not intend that there would be multiple interpretations for that would only lead to confusion in the mind of the readers.  Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit’s foreknowledge of the course of history with its consummation in Christ guided the human authors into a deeper meaning than they understood (Wenham, 103), as with prophetic passages.  Thus, with only one interpretation comes many applications; after all, Scripture has been and will always be relevant for all peoples in all cultures for all times.   Hebrews_4:12  “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Bibliography

Baillie, John.  The Idea of Revelation in Recent Thought.  New York:  Columbia University Press, 1956.

Enns, Paul.  The Moody Handbook of Theology.  Chicago:  Moody Press, 1989.

Erickson, Millard J.  Christian Theology.  Grand Rapids:  Baker Academic, 2007.

McDowell, Josh.  The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict.  Nashville:  Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999.

Milne, Bruce.  Know The Truth.  Downers Grove:  Intervarsity Press, 1982.

Packer, J. I.  Fundamentalism and the Word of God.  Grand Rapids:  Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974.

Sproul, R. C.  Explaining Inerrancy.  Orlando:  Ligonier Ministries, 1996.

Warfield, Benjamin Breckinridge.  The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible.  Philadelphia:  Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1970.

Wenham, John W.  Christ and the Bible.  Grand Rapids:  Baker Book House, 1984.

© Copyright 2004 by Rev. Philip C. Andrukaitis

(Entries in green are from the Editor to clarify for non-professionals)

An Introduction to Theology through God’s Revelation of Himself                    

Scripture and Authority